grade 7: module 2b: unit 1: lesson 1 launching the module

Grade 7: Module 2B: Unit 1: Lesson 1 Launching the Module: Identity and Transformation, Then and Now

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GRADE 7: MODULE 2B: UNIT 1: LESSON 1 Launching the Module:

Windows and Mirrors: Defining Identity

Long-Term Target Addressed (Based on NYSP12 ELA CCLS)

I can determine the central idea of a text. (RI.7.2)

Supporting Learning Targets Ongoing Assessment

• I can make inferences about the central idea of Nadia’s Hands.

• I can build a working definition of identity.

• Identity journals

• Identity anchor chart

• External Identity mind map

• Internal Identity mind map

• Reader’s Notes: Not Much, Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, pages 105–106

Created by Expeditionary Learning, on behalf of Public Consulting Group, Inc. © Public Consulting Group, Inc., with a perpetual license granted to Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, Inc. NYS Common Core ELA Curriculum • G7:M2B:U1:L1 • June 2014 • 1



Agenda Teaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Identity Entry Task/Unpacking Learning Targets (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Nadia’s Hands (10 minutes)

B. Who Am I on the Outside? External Identity (12 minutes)

C. Who Am I on the Inside? Internal Identity (12 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Revising Identity Anchor Chart and Reviewing Learning Targets (6 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Read the excerpt from Not Much, Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, pages 105 and 106. Complete the homework questions.

• This lesson launches Module 2B and lays the foundation for the module’s exploration of identity. Students begin to build a working definition of identity first by exploring their own identities, and then framing the concept through cultural identifiers.

• For homework in many lessons in this unit, students usually read in their independent reading book. The lesson plans assume that you have launched the independent reading program with your students, and that all students have books to read and understand the routines of reading and logging their reading. See two separate stand-alone documents on EngageNY.org: The Importance of Increasing the Volume of Reading, and Launching Independent Reading in Grades 6–8: Sample Plan, which together provide the rationale and practical guidance for a robust independent reading program. If you have not launched independent reading yet, you could either work the launch into this unit, by adding days, or you could pause and launch the program before starting this unit. Refer to the Unit 1 Overview for more details.

• Sample Cultural Identifiers is a list of common aspects of identity developed by the National Association of Independent Schools and the Diversity Awareness Initiative for Students. Note that although these are titled simply “cultural identifiers,” they cover multiple aspects of identity that are useful to consider.

• This lesson prompts students to begin thinking about identity in terms of internal and external characteristics. This is intended to be a simple way to parse the complex topic of identity. This language of “internal” and “external” will also serve as a means of analyzing the transformation and evolution of the main characters in Pygmalion, which students will study in Unit 2.

• As the module continues, students will notice that many of the categories and characteristics of identity overlap and inform one another; these observations should be honored and encouraged.

• The identity journal is an ongoing interactive writing activity that allows students to make personal connections with the texts and the topics in the unit. It is intended as the formal space for “text to self” connections, since students will generally be eager to connect this topic to their own personal identities and identity formation. It will be essential to honor these connections wherever possible, yet without digressing too far from the ultimate purpose of comprehending the texts of the unit.

• Conversely, due to the personal nature of the topic, there may be some students for whom conversations about identity, or specific aspects of identity, may become uncomfortable. Consider which of your students may have an issue with this and think ahead about how to handle those situations sensitively.




Agenda Teaching Notes (continued)

• Note that when students begin to discuss internal identity, they may bring up situations in which a momentary emotion seems to be evidence for an internal identity trait. (For example: “He was angry when she dumped orange juice on him, so he must be an angry person.”) Students will participate in a mini lesson designed to help them determine the difference between momentary “feelings” and the longitudinal, stable preferences and attitudes of internal identity in Unit 2, but be aware of this error now. Knowing the difference between singular reaction and identity is crucial not only to understanding the concept of identity, but also to understanding character development in literature, such as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion.

• The concept of identity is introduced by reading the children’s picture book Nadia’s Hands, a fictional story of a young Pakistani-American girl who is undergoing the tradition of hand-painting, or mehndi, for her cousin’s wedding. In the book, the girl struggles with integrating this custom into her worldview, but succeeds in the end. Using children’s books is a powerful tool to introduce complex concepts in a way that is engaging and accessible and helps build schema for more complex texts. The use of children’s books supports all learners, but particularly struggling readers and ELLs.

• Students record their thinking about identity using an Identity anchor chart. Anchor charts provide a common point of reference and a place to hold class thinking about a particular topic. They can be created and updated in either an electronic format or on a large piece of chart paper.

• The homework in this lesson is intended as a simple pre-assessment tied to the three main CCLS: RI.7.1, RI.7.2, and RI.7.3. Review the directions for presenting this homework to the students.

• In advance:

– Preview the lessons in this unit and consider what structure you will use for the independent reading check-in scheduled for Lesson 5. As you review homework daily with students, make sure they are clear about what they need to have completed before and bring to class that day. Understanding the in-class routine for checking in on independent reading will both motivate students and hold them accountable.

– Consider how students will organize their materials for this module. Some materials, such as the identity journal, will be worked on over a series of many classes; students will need a safe, easy, and neat way to store them. For example, printing both the identity journal and the subsequent Reader’s Notes for all of Unit 1 and collating them in a packet ahead of time may save time and help keep students organized.

– Read over Nadia’s Hands. Pay special attention to the pronunciation of the Urdu words in the book; the “Note” in the beginning provides a pronunciation key and definitions.

– Determine the best way to present this book to the whole class. A document camera and/or a class set of copies of the text may be useful.




Agenda Teaching Notes (continued)

– Review Fist to Five in Checking for Understanding techniques (see Appendix).

– Print and post the Sample Cultural Identifiers anchor chart for the duration of the module.

– Post the Identity anchor chart for the duration of the module. • Post: Learning targets.

Lesson Vocabulary Materials

identity, metaphor, mehndi, internal, external, identifiers

• Identity journals (one per student)

• Identity anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see supporting materials)

• Identity anchor chart—student version (one per student; first page of identity journals)

• Nadia’s Hands (one for teacher read-aloud)

• Sample Cultural Identifiers anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see supporting materials)

• Who Am I on the Outside? recording form (one per student)

• Who Am I on the Inside? recording form (one per student)

• Not Much, Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, pages 105–106 (excerpt; one per student)

• Reader’s Notes: Not Much, Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, pages 105–106 (one per student)

• Reader’s Notes: Not Much, Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, pages 105–106 (answers, for teacher reference)




Opening Meeting Students’ Needs

A. Identity Entry Task/Unpacking Learning Targets (5 minutes) • Distribute the identity journals and have students put their names on the front cover. Tell them that they will

use these journals throughout the unit.

• Have students independently fill out the first task on the first page (Entry Task, Lesson 1):

* “What does the word identity mean?”

* “What is included in someone’s identity?”

• Cold call a few students to share their answers. Listen for such things as “Identity is a sense of who I am,” “The groups I belong to (family, friends, society) help define my identity,” and “My identity is determined by my personality and my choices.”

• Direct students’ attention to the Identity anchor chart. Record their ideas on the chart and let them know that this is their “first draft” of what identity might be. Have students copy the information down on their Identity anchor chart—student version, on the first page of their identity journal. Inform them that they will be returning to this chart repeatedly to add to, revise, or change their class definition of identity.

• Explain that this module is about the concept of identity: who we are, what influences us, and how we grow and change. Connect this concept to students’ experience as seventh-graders; they are just beginning adolescence, which psychology has shown to be a time when young people begin to think deeply about who they are and what they believe. Tell students that this module topic should be very interesting, especially since they will read and think about many texts that deal with the teen experience.

• Direct students’ attention to the learning targets:

* “I can make inferences about the central idea of Nadia’s Hands.”

* “I can build a working definition of identity.” • Show them the cover of Nadia’s Hands. Let them know only that it is a picture book about a Pakistani-American

girl and that you will read it together shortly. Ask students to turn and talk:

* “Make a prediction together from the clues on the cover of this book about how this story might help us achieve our learning target of defining identity today. In other words, how could this story help us understand what identity is?”

• Cold call two or three students for their answers. Listen for them to discuss the patterns they see on the hands in the cover illustration and to provide hypotheses about how the patterns might reflect cultural or personal choices of identity.

• Research indicates that cold calling improves student engagement and critical thinking. Prepare students for this strategy by discussing the purpose, giving appropriate think time, and indicating that this strategy will be used before students are asked questions.

• Some students may benefit from being privately prompted before they are called on in a cold call. Although cold calling is a participation technique that necessitates random calling, it is important to set a supportive tone so that use of the cold call is a positive experience for all.

• Consider scaffolding the entry task further for students with emergent literacy or for ELLs—for example, providing an example of an aspect of identity and asking students to relate themselves personally to it. It’s important, however, to not give the definition wholesale at this point. Students are using this lesson to work toward their own concept of what identity is.

• When possible, have students who need physical activity take on the active roles of managing and writing on charts or handing out the materials.




Work Time Meeting Students’ Needs

A. Nadia’s Hands (10 minutes) • Ask the class whether anyone has had experience with the Middle Eastern/Asian tradition of painting hands (mehndi). If so,

have students briefly share those experiences.

• Read the book Nadia’s Hands aloud to the class. For each set of pages, after reading the text aloud, conduct a brief class discussion about what the students notice about the accompanying picture and about the definition of new words that may be on the page (such as mehndi or kabab).

• Have students return to their identity journals and independently fill out the second task on the first page (Nadia’s Hands, Lesson 1):

* “Several times in Nadia’s Hands, Nadia expresses the feeling that her hands look ‘as if they belong to someone else.’ The last line of the book, however, says, ‘They looked as if they belonged to her.’ What does this last line show about how Nadia’s sense of identity has changed?”

• Cold call three or four students to share their answers aloud. Listen for them to indicate that the last line implies that Nadia was struggling with her Pakistani heritage throughout the book, but at the end, she accepts and enjoys her cultural identity in her aunt’s wedding.

• Collect the identity journals.

• Be aware that due to political tension between the United States and Pakistan, students may bring up negative connotations or stereotypes of Pakistan or Pakistani culture. Although it is important to have these discussions, for the purpose of this lesson, keep students focused tightly on the topics of the book only.

• Consider providing or using additional audio or visual materials to supplement the students’ background knowledge of mehndi, such as YouTube videos or Google images.

• Informally assess the students’ answers to the first and second tasks in the journal as a means of assessing where the students are on the continuum of meeting the two supporting learning targets. A list or graph of students’ names may be helpful for future planning around these standards.




Work Time (continued) Meeting Students’ Needs

B. Who Am I on the Outside? External Identity (12 minutes) • Distribute the Who Am I on the Outside? and Who Am I on the Inside? recording forms to the students. Tell them

they will start with the Outside recording form.

• Walk students through the directions, Parts I and II. If needed, consider modeling by completing a portion of the mind map about yourself.

• Point out the Sample Cultural Identifiers anchor chart, which repeats the same information from the “Who Am I On the Outside?” recording form. Let students know this anchor chart will remain up as a reference for them throughout the rest of the module.

• As students work on their External mind maps, circulate and offer individual assistance where necessary. Have the students bear in mind that this work will not be formally assessed, but that you will collect it. Assure them that if they are completing the mind map with information that is personal, they will have a choice as to whether they share it in class; also indicate that you will be the only person looking at the maps and will keep them private.

• After students complete Part II (revising their initial mind map based on new information), invite students (if they are willing) to place their mind maps visibly on or in their workspaces. Students who would prefer to keep their mind maps private may put them away but should still participate in the rest of the activity. Allow students to get up, stretch, and then move through the classroom to view other people’s mind maps, keeping in mind what they “notice” and what they “wonder.” This activity should take no more than 2 or 3 minutes.

• Ask for volunteers to share their observations.

• The External and Internal mind maps ask students to think about and share personal information about themselves. Honor a student’s need to keep this information private, if he or she expresses concern about sharing this information publicly.

• Mind maps can be easily augmented or differentiated with drawings or other artwork for students who are artistically inclined or have limited vocabulary.




Work Time (continued) Meeting Students’ Needs

C. Who Am I on the Inside? Internal Identity (12 minutes) • Walk students through the directions for Sections III and IV. If needed, consider modeling how to complete the mind map

by filling out a portion about yourself.

• As students work on their Internal mind maps, circulate and offer individual assistance where necessary.

• After they complete Part IV (revising their initial mind map based on new information), again invite students (if they are willing) to place their mind maps visibly on or in their workspaces. Students who would prefer to keep their mind maps private may put them away, but should still participate in the rest of the activity. Allow students to get up, stretch, and then move through the classroom to view other people’s mind maps, keeping in mind what they “notice” and what they “wonder.” Again, this activity should take no more than 2 or 3 minutes.

• Ask for volunteers to share their observations.

• Collect the mind maps.

• The External and Internal mind maps ask students to think about and share personal information about themselves. Honor a student’s need to keep this information private, if he or she expresses concern about sharing this information publicly.

• Mind maps can be easily augmented or differentiated with drawings or other artwork for students who are artistically inclined or have limited vocabulary.




Closing and Assessment Meeting Students’ Needs

A. Revising Identity Anchor Chart and Reviewing Learning Targets (6 minutes)

• Direct students’ attention to the ideas recorded about identity. Conduct a whole-class debrief using these prompts:

* “What did you learn from Nadia’s Hands that adds to or changes what is on our Identity anchor chart?”

* What did you learn from the mind map activities that adds to or changes what is on our Identity anchor chart?”

• Record student responses on the anchor chart. If an answer sounds inaccurate, bounce it back for reconsideration:

* “What does someone else think about that answer?”

• Have students assess the supporting learning targets by using the “Fist to Five” Checking for Understanding technique.

• Distribute and review the homework briefly. Let students know that these are the kinds of questions they will be learning to answer well in this module. As a result, this set of questions is meant to be “help-free”; you want to be able to get a sense of what students already know about identity and what you can help them with as the unit progresses. Anticipate for them that they may find these questions challenging, but your only expectation is that they do their best to answer them completely. Inform them that this not a graded assessment, but you will collect it in the next class.

Homework Meeting Students’ Needs

• Read the excerpt from Not Much, Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers excerpt, pages 105 and 106. Complete the homework questions.

• In general, this is a very engaging and understandable text. Challenging words are defined at the bottom of the homework questions, however, and some students may benefit from having them previewed.

• Questions 1–3 are tied to the standards listed and are intended as a simple pre-assessment of students’ ability to meet those standards. Do not differentiate or modify them.


Grade 7: Module 2B: Unit 1: Lesson 1 Supporting Materials

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GRADE 7: MODULE 2B: UNIT 1: LESSON 1

Module 2B: Windows and Mirrors: Defining Identity

Identity Journal

Name:

Date:



Identity Journal: Identity Anchor Chart—Student Version

Questions to Think About … What is identity? What are the characteristics or identifiers of identity? How is identity influenced, shaped, or changed?



Identity Journal: Sample Cultural Identifiers (*and more)—Student Reference

Cultural Identifiers (Adapted from the National Association of Independent Schools)

• Ability (mental or physical)

• Age

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Race

• Religion

• Sexual orientation

• Socioeconomic status/class

• Body image

• Educational background

• Academic/social achievement

• Family of origin, family makeup

• Geographic/regional background

• Language

• Learning style

• Other beliefs (political, social)

• Globalism/internationalism (how much a part of the world you feel you are)

• Generation (“Generation X,” “Generation Z,” “baby boomers,” etc.)

• Sense of self-worth/self-respect

• Sense of empowerment/agency



Identity Journal: Entry Task and Nadia’s Hands, Lesson 1

Name:

Date:

Entry Task, Lesson 1 Please complete this task individually. What does the word identity mean? What is included in someone’s identity?

Nadia’s Hands: Lesson 1 Please complete this task individually. Several times in Nadia’s Hands, Nadia expresses the feeling that her hands look “as if they belong to someone else.” The last line of the book, however, says, “They looked as if they belonged to her.” What does this last line show about how Nadia’s sense of identity has changed?



Identity Journal: Entry Task, Lesson 2

Name:

Date:

Please complete this task individually. Think about the two pieces of evidence you identified for homework in Question 2. Explain how you might see, or might not see, similar behavior or ideas in your own middle school experience or other experiences you may have read about.



Identity Journal: Task, Lesson 5

Name:

Date:

Please complete this task individually.

1. How do you think the data in this profile influences our national identity—our sense of who we are as Americans?

2. How do you see the data in this profile reflected in your own personal sense of identity? Fill in the sentence below:

I am _______________________________________, and in the profile I see this connection:________________________________________. 3. Where do you think the data in this profile would fit in the Sample Cultural Identifiers?

4. According to the 2000 and 2010 Censuses, the Hispanic population in the United States grew by approximately 10 percent over the past 10 years. If the Hispanic population continues to grow at this rate, how do you think the map and graph on the profile might look in 2020? Describe the changes in detail.



Identity Journal: Tasks, Lessons 6 and 10

Name:

Date:

Task, Lesson 6 Please complete this task individually. What does the term self-worth mean to you? How is it different from being “stuck up” or “conceited”? When someone has a sense of self-worth, what might it look like? How can self-worth play a role in someone’s identity?

Task, Lesson 10 Take a look at your Identity anchor chart and remember the texts we have read in this unit. What have you learned about yourself, and your identity, through this work? How can you connect to the information and stories that we have read and studied?



Identity Anchor Chart (For Teacher Reference)

Questions to Think About … What is identity? What are the characteristics or identifiers of identity? How is identity influenced, shaped, or changed?



Sample Cultural Identifiers Anchor Chart

• Ability (mental or physical)

• Age

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Race

• Religion



• Body image





• Language

• Learning style

• Other beliefs (political, social, internal)







Who Am I on the Outside? External Identity

Name:

Date:

I. Who am I on the outside? That’s a big question. Your outer, or external, identity is developed as you grow up relating to particular people in particular places. You identify as part of your family, for example. You identify as American because you are a citizen. When you start at school, you identify as a student. If you join a sports team, you take on “team member” as part of your identity. Complete this mind map about your outer identities.



Who Am I on the Outside? External Identity

II. Sample Cultural Identifiers

Now, take a look at the following list. Developed by the National Association of Independent Schools and the Diversity Awareness Initiative for Students, it’s called “Sample Cultural Identifiers.” Sample Cultural Identifiers • Ability (mental or physical)

• Age

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Race

• Religion



• Body image





• Language

• Learning style

• Other beliefs (political, social, internal)





Go back to your external identity mind map. After looking at this list, is there anything you want to change or add?



Who Am I on the Inside? Internal Identity

Name:

Date:

III. Who am I on the inside? Your external identity and your internal identity are deeply intertwined, but your internal identity has more to do with your thoughts, emotions, preferences, and personality, instead of your social groups. You may consider yourself to be “sensitive” or “tough” emotionally, for example. You may prefer to read a book instead of play soccer. You may consider yourself impulsive, or instead you may consider all your options carefully before making a decision. Complete this second mind map, thinking about your internal identity.



Who Am I on the Inside? Internal Identity

IV. Some Internal Identity Identifiers Take a look at this list of internal identity identifiers. (This is NOT a complete list—the number of internal identifiers is huge!) • outgoing

• I use slang often.

• energetic

• affectionate

• distant and cool

• quick to anger

• I prefer to be alone.

• lacking in natural talent

• depressed

• reliable

• a gossip

• I swear a lot.

• I can talk to all people.

• verbal

• quiet

• organized

• polite

• noisy

• athletic/physical

• friendly

• approachable

• not confident

• hardworking

• caring

• trustworthy

• can’t keep a secret

• artistic

• logical

• traditional

• confident

• emotional

• aggressive

• talented

• tired

• positive

• shy

• formal

• neat

• a good friend

• loyal

• I love animals.

• I prefer computer games.

Now, review your internal identity mind map. Is there anything you’d like to change or add?



Not Much, Just Chillin': The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, Pages 105–106

By Linda Perlstein. Dodgeball has been banned this year in the Howard County public schools—too violent, too humiliating. In a way, though, middle school is a game of dodgeball, except instead of a red ball you avoid annoying people. Nobody is immune: Jackie is teased for being short. Eric is teased for being fat. Elizabeth is teased for being Elizabeth. And so on. Jimmy started sixth grade closely knit into his group of best friends from elementary school, boys who are clever, obedient, and not very popular. There’s Daniel, who wants to be a band director like his dad and keeps a pen clipped to his shirt collar “because it’s resourceful.” There’s John, who has secret stress stomachaches and natural, impeccable humor, a combination that makes it inevitable he’ll quit premed one day to write sitcoms. And there’s Will, who plans to apply to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and Caltech and become a bioroboticist. For his eighth-grade science project, he wants to make an artificial hand. The boys’ favorite things to do together are play video games, talk about video games, and taunt each other. This sort of taunting is tolerable, a sign of affection almost, coming as it does from true friends. It’s not unfathomable to Jimmy that when he grows up the nerdy guys will have become the cooler ones while the popular kids turn fat, bald, and boring. Maybe what adults say is true: Jimmy’s type wins in the end. But that’s not great comfort right now. “I’m not funny,” he says. “I used to correct people too much, and I still do a little. It makes me feel better a little. I don’t know what I like about myself. I don’t like anything else.” Of the group, Will and Jimmy fight the most—practically all the time, it seems—mainly about friendship stuff. Girls’ bickering gets most of the attention from teachers and parents and authors and so on, but they tend to deny their conflicts, let them fester under the surface. The sports and rule-based games boys choose are ripe for argument. In fact, boys actually report more conflict in their friendships than girls do. Jimmy keeps a framed photo of himself and Will in first grade on the shelf above his bed, the same photo Will has over his bed. Will is a loyal friend. But Jimmy hates the way Will makes him feel when he gets B’s. And, concerned about Will’s uncoolness, he is facing a common dilemma of the preteen years: balancing the benefits of a satisfying one-on-one friendship with the desire to negotiate a better place for yourself, popularity-wise. Deep inside, Jimmy thinks that maybe part of growing up is growing out of people, and perhaps will be the first.



Not Much, Just Chillin': The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, Pages 105–106 The kids above their group socially act older, as if they have to be nasty to be popular. Will especially arrived at middle school worried about big mean kids, and it comes true when Chris Kopp lifts him up by his backpack on the bus, which chokes him and makes him cry. In telling the story, he mentions that Billy Mara saved him a seat on the bus. “Billy Mara? He’s a geek,” Jimmy says. “I hate him,” Will says, “but he saves me a seat.” You will never, all your life, forget the rank order of popularity in your sixth-grade class, or the rules of the middle-school food chain: You will prey upon anyone who appears remotely more vulnerable than you are. The people toward the bottom, rather than refrain from teasing because they know it is the single most painful thing about middle school, “get so mad they have to take it out on someone,” Jimmy says. With nothing to lose, they make fun of everyone. They feel bad, but they feel good. Strong, kind of. For someone in the middle, like Jimmy, it’s no use getting mad at the popular people, “because then a lot of people gang up on you.” “I barely ever have a chance to make fun of anyone,” he says, “because they make fun of me.” Perlstein, Linda. Not Much, Just Chillin: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Print.



Reader’s Notes: Not Much, Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers, Pages 105–106

Name:

Date:

1. Summarize this excerpt in three or four sentences. (RI.7.2)

2. Think about this central idea: “At this moment, Jimmy is concerned or confused about many aspects of his life.” What two pieces of evidence from the excerpt would you use to support this claim? (RI.7.1)




3. Below are two of the “Sample Cultural Identifiers.” Choose one of the identifiers and explain how it is influencing Jimmy as a person in this excerpt. (RI.7.3)

Age: Academic achievement:

Vocabulary to Know

Word Definition

impeccable (105) free from fault or blame

taunt (105) to provoke or challenge in a mocking or insulting manner

unfathomable (106) impossible to understand

fester (106) to grow or cause to grow increasingly more irritating

rank (106) position within a group

remotely (106) small in degree




(Answers, for Teacher Reference)

1. Summarize this excerpt in three or four sentences. (RI.7.2)

Jimmy is a sixth-grade student who is smart, loyal to his best friends in elementary school, and not popular. He experiences conflict with his friends and wonders whether he will grow out of his friendships as he grows up. He is in the “middle” of the popularity order, in which popular students pick on weaker students, and the weakest students “get revenge” by teasing everyone universally.

2. Think about this central idea: “At this moment, Jimmy is concerned or confused about many aspects of his life.” What two pieces of evidence from the excerpt would you use to support this claim? (RI.7.1)

Options include discussing his ambivalent feelings about “not being funny,” his concern about growing out of his friendship with Will (fighting with him, Will not being “cool,” etc.), or his not being able to “make fun of anyone” because they make fun of him first.

3. Below are two of the “Sample Cultural Identifiers.” Choose one of the identifiers and explain how it is influencing Jimmy as a person in this excerpt. (RI.7.3)

Age: His position in sixth grade causes him to wonder about growing out of friendship and also makes him a target for older students. Academic achievement: He does well in school, but getting B’s causes tension with his friend Will and causes him generally to be labeled as “nerdy.” He understands intellectually that doing well in school is important, but it doesn’t give him comfort.




(Answers, for Teacher Reference) Vocabulary to Know

Word Definition

impeccable (105) free from fault or blame

taunt (105) to provoke or challenge in a mocking or insulting manner

unfathomable (106) impossible to understand

fester (106) to grow or cause to grow increasingly more irritating

rank (106) position within a group

remotely (106) small in degree


grade 7: module 2b: unit 1: lesson 1 launching the module

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